School can be one of the most vulnerable environments that children are exposed to. Because of the level of trust given to those involved in educating our children, discovering that a teacher or other school employee is a convicted felon can be horrifying. Learning that someone was fired for a crime in one district and gets hired somewhere else is absolutely appalling. These kinds of practices happen usually through ignorance of good background checking policies and procedures.

The majority of educators and support staff are professionals dedicated to the care and wellbeing of our children. SecureSearch is committed to protecting all children and at-risk adults whom we entrust to organizations like schools and daycare centers. Effective background screening is the best way for you to protect the innocent lives placed in your capable hands every day.

If you are a public or charter school, private school or a college or university, there are some easy steps that can be taken to protect those in your care.

Suggestions for Safer Schools

Go beyond minimum requirements of state fingerprint criminal history checks by conducting more detailed background checks that also include multi-state criminal and sex offender checks, employment history, past work performance, educational credential verification, and similar more detailed personal histories.

Identify the limitations of current criminal history checks such as geographical areas covered, limited to only a select category or categories of school employees, etc., and pursue criminal history checks which cover the widest available databases and requires checks of all employees.

Offer training for staff and students, and create a school culture where students and staff feel comfortable in reporting to school officials and police known and suspected inappropriate employee misconduct.

Establish a clearly identified process for intake of complaints of employee misconduct and create an investigation process that is fair, objective, and thorough. Notify law enforcement in a timely manner when allegations involve alleged actions by an employee which would constitute a crime.

Institute policies requiring school employees to report any arrests for crimes to their school district employer within 24 hours of such arrests.

Run background checks not only on teachers, but everyone who works or volunteers at the school.

Conduct periodic criminal and sex offender history checks of school employees during the course of their employment. Once an individual is employed by a school district, it is reasonable to assume that they will never be background checked again. A criminal act that occurs after hire has the potential to go unnoticed or unknown to the employer.